USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75)

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Career (US)
USS Harry S. Truman alongside MSC oiler USNS John Lenthall in the Mediterranean Sea
Ordered:	30 June 1988
Laid down:	29 November 1993
Launched:	7 September 1996
Commissioned:	25 July 1998
Status:	Active in service as of 2008
Homeport:	NS Norfolk, Virginia
General characteristics
Displacement:	101,000 to 104,000 tons full load
Length:	Overall: 1,092 ft (333 m) Waterline: 1,040 ft (317 m)
Beam:	Overall: 252 ft (76.8 m) Waterline: 134 ft (40.8 m)
Draught:	Maximum navigational: 37 ft (11.3 m) Limit: 41 ft (12.5 m)
Propulsion:	2 × Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors 4 × steam turbines 4 × shafts 260,000 shp (194 MW)
Speed:	30+ knots (56+ km/h)
Range:	Essentially unlimited
Complement:	Ship's company: 3,200 Air wing: 2,480
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-48E 3-D air search radar AN/SPS-49(V)5 2-D air search radar Mk 23 target acquisition radar 2 × AN/SPN-46 air traffic control radars AN/SPN-43B air traffic control radar AN/SPN-44 landing aid radars 3 × Mk 91 NSSM guidance systems 3 × Mk 95 radars
Electronic warfare and decoys:	SLQ-32A(V)4 Countermeasures suite SLQ-25A Nixie torpedo countermeasures
Armament:	2 × Mk 57 Mod3 Sea Sparrow 2 × RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile 3 × Phalanx CIWS
Armour:	Unknown
Aircraft carried:	90 fixed wing and helicopters
Motto:	The Buck Stops Here
Nickname:	HST

USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) is the eighth Nimitz-class supercarrier of the United States Navy, named after the 33rd President of the United States, Harry S. Truman. The keel was laid by Newport News Shipbuilding on November 29, 1993 and the ship was christened on September 7, 1996. The official launching of the ship was on September 13, 1996. The crew moved aboard ship from contract housing in Newport News in January 1998. The ship successfully completed builder's trials on June 11, 1998 and acceptance sea trials on June 25, 1998 before being commissioned on July 25, 1998. The builder's trials and sea trials were delayed from the initial scheduling dates in May 1998 due to noise issues in one of the reactor closure heads during hydrostatic testing. HST was authorized as USS United States but her name was changed before the keel laying. The keynote speaker of the commissioning ceremony was President Bill Clinton. Other notable attendees and speakers were: Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who pushed to have the carrier named after the 33rd president; Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan; Captain Thomas Otterbein, the Truman's first commanding officer; Secretary of Defense William Cohen; and Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton. The ship is currently based at Norfolk, Virginia. The first deployment of Harry S. Truman was in Operation Southern Watch, from November 28, 2000 to May 23, 2001. The carrier deployed again for Southern Watch on December 5, 2002 and then participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, returning home May 23, 2003. The ship set out from Norfolk for the Persian Gulf on October 13, 2004, and was relieved on March 19, 2005. In competition year 2004, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award, an honor given to the most battle-ready ship in the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. The ship also was awarded the Battle E award three consecutive years, from 2003 to 2005. On September 1, 2005, in response to the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Harry S. Truman set sail for the devastated U.S. Gulf Coast. Truman arrived in the Gulf Coast on September 4 and served as the flagship for the Naval task force. Harry S. Truman returned to home port in October of 2005 after 5 weeks of relief efforts. Harry S. Truman entered the shipyards for a Docked Planned Incremental Availablility in January of 2006. The ship received many system upgrades, and underwent preventative maintenance to repair minor weld defects originiating from the initial construction of the reactor plants. Harry S. Truman left Norfolk Naval Shipyard in December of 2006 and is currently in a training cycle to prepare for surge capability beginning in April of 2007. On November 5, 2007 the Harry S Truman left Norfolk for its seven month Mediterranean deployment.

Trivia

The Discovery Channel documentary "City of Steel" documents the construction, sea trials and commission of the USS Harry S. Truman.
There are two brass plaques in the entrances to the Reactor Rooms which list all personnel on watch in the Reactor Auxiliary Room (RAR) and Main Machinery Room (MMR) when #1 and #2 reactors first became "critical". One of the crew members is incorrectly listed as MM2 Pres Ilog, when that member was an MM3 for more than two years after that date.
There is a brass plaque in the tunnel off Hangar Bay #1 dedicated to the 3 Newport News Shipworkers who died during the building of the USS Harry Truman when a pump room filled with methane and hydrogen sulfide gases during a sewage leak on Saturday, July 12, 1997.
The USS Harry S. Truman was used in filming for the 2003 movie Tears of the Sun starring Bruce Willis.
The construction cost was approximately $4.5 billion.

External links

The ship anchors outside Portsmouth, England, while her crew enjoy a port visit.

The Military Sealift Command combat stores ship USNS Spica cruises alongside Harry S. Truman during replenishment operations in the Mediterranean Sea on November 1, 2004.

Harry S. Truman and the Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi operate near each other in the Atlantic Ocean while participating in Majestic Eagle 2004, a multinational war exercise conducted off the coast of Morocco.

USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75)

Trivia

External links

See also